Xander the Sentinel
by Maevenn
Summary: Xander's senses go haywire, and the Scoobies must find someone who can figure out what's happening and how to cure him. Buffy/Sentinel/Stargate x-over
1. Chapter 1

**1. Chapter 1**

Disclaimer: I do not own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel: the series, The Sentinel, nor Stargate: SG1. All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of this author. This author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

CHAPTER 1

Willow was worried. Xander was an indifferent student, barely passing at the best of times, but lately things had gotten much worse. If he didn't start paying better attention in all his classes, he would fail and get held back a year.

After the Hyena incident, Xander had gone camping for a week, for some time to 'process' as he called it. Ever since he'd come back, he'd been acting weird though. She would catch him staring into space, as if he was concentrating on something, or his head would be tilted as if he was listening to something, but there was nothing there that she could see or hear. Usually she just had to poke him to bring him back to 'reality', and when he did he'd mention seeing or hearing, or even smelling something that had captured his attention to the exclusion of everything else, but neither she nor Buffy ever saw, heard or smelled anything.

Then finally things came to a head. Xander had been particularly space-cadet-y in math class, and she had not been able to poke him into wakefulness, when Mr. Chalmers caught him at it.

"Mr. Harris! Care to share what is so fascinating out the window with the rest of the class?" Cordy and her Cordettes snickered, but Xander did not respond. "Mr. Harris!" snapped Mr. Chalmers, as he slammed his textbook down on Xander's desk. The noise started everyone in the class but Xander, who continued to stare blankly forward, oblivious. Paramedics were called as it quickly became obvious that nothing could stir him out of his catatonic state. Xander was bundled into the ambulance and taken to Sunnydale General.

Buffy tried to console Willow, who was crying. The doctor had just informed them that Xander was still unresponsive to all external stimuli, despite the fact that a CAT scan revealed heightened activity in the areas of the brain responsible for the senses. There were no recent injuries that could account for the catatonia, and the CAT scan had also revealed there were no tumours or other abnormalities. Willow had confessed that Xander had recently been experiencing what they assumed were visual, auditory and even olfactory hallucinations. This combined with his childhood medical history, which clearly pointed to abuse, had the doctors convinced that he had suffered a psychotic break, and so he was admitted to the psychiatric ward for observation.

*sniffle* "Buffy, what if he never wakes up? He'll be stuck in an asylum for the rest of his life…" wailed Willow.

Buffy shuddered at this, remembering her own experience in the Hemery Asylum. "Shh, Wills, we can't think like that. You have to be strong, and be research-girl for Xander. We know he isn't crazy, this is Hellmouthy, it has to be. Tell her we can fix this Giles," she pleaded with her mentor.

"She's right, Willow, I won't rest until I find what demon or spell caused this. Between you, I and Buffy, I am sure we'll find it." Giles hugged the both of them, and internally catalogued the books he thought might help, just as desperate as they to help the boy that was as near to a son as he could ever hope to have.

* * *

2 months later

Frustrated, Giles threw the book he had been reading into the huge pile of previously discarded tomes on the library table, with little care for any damage that might result, a measure of how deeply he was affected. "Blast! Bloody buggering hell!"

"What's the matter Giles?" asked Buffy, walking into the library, having just finished patrol.

"What's the bloody matter is I'm no closer to finding a 'cure' for Xander's condition that I was two months ago. The only demonic race capable of inducing a state of catatonia were rendered extinct in the 13th century. And while there are a couple of dozen spells that might have had the same effect, without knowing *which* spell it was, we cannot cast the appropriate counterspell; casting random counterspells might do more harm than good. We need more information, or we may never be able to help the boy." Giles ranted. He slumped into his chair with an air of defeat.

Willow sat beside Xander in the visitors' room of the psychiatric ward. Dressed by orderlies that morning in PJs and a bathrobe, he sat in a wheelchair by the window, just as unresponsive as the day he had been admitted. Despite the lack of response, Willow babbled cheerily at him, as if he could hear and reacted to her every word. As visiting hour drew to a close, she gently kissed his cheek and told him, "Bye Xand, see you tomorrow."

As she was leaving, she caught sight of Mr. and Mrs. Harris speaking with the doctor, and she hung back, curious to hear what was said, since the doctors had been less than forthcoming with the Scoobies about Xander's condition and progress (or lack thereof.)

"Mr. Harris, all we need is your signature on these consent forms and we'll be able to proceed with the experimental treatment," the doctor explained, presenting a clipboard with the forms in question.

Tony Harris glared at the doctor, and shoved the clipboard away. "Not so fast, bud. I ain't made of money, and I ain't gonna spend none of it on that vegetable son of mine. Far as I'm concerned, he can just rot. at least with the State payin' for his care, he finally isn't costin' me anymore." Dragging Mrs. Harris behind him, he strode away to the elevators, fully intending to leave and never return.

Willow squeaked indignantly, and felt her magic coming very close to the surface. She'd curse that bastard for what he'd said! However, before she could recall a suitably vile hex, the doctor hurried after the couple to press his case.

"Wait! Mr. Harris, you don't understand, due to the risks of the experimental drugs, there is ten thousand dollars compensation being offered to the patients included in the study." Seeing the greed that flashed over Tony Harris' face, the doctor knew he'd won. Without asking about any of the risks, Xander's father grabbed and signed the forms, and told the doctor to mail him the cheque as soon as possible.

Willow fumed, but knew that there was nothing she could do. If only they had all been older, they had planned to exchange legal documents granting each other medical and legal powers of attorney. But they were still minors, and at the less than tender mercy of their parents.

Seeing the doctor prepare a syringe, she realized that he meant to start the new treatment immediately. "Doctor, I know I have no say in his treatment, but I hope you will allow me to be present at least," she almost begged.

Knowing how much she cared for the patient, he saw no harm in allowing her to remain. He called out to an orderly, "Orderly, please bring patient Harris to his room. Ms. Rosenburg, you may stay, but do not interfere, or I will have you removed."

Willow nodded, and walked with him to Xander's room. While the orderly placed Xander on his bed, she withdrew to a corner of the room. "Doctor, can I ask what this drug is meant to do and how soon we might expect results?"

"Certainly, my dear. It's an experimental drug meant to stimulate the areas of the brain responsible for the senses. With patients in this deep of a catatonic state, it is believed that those areas are dulled or 'asleep', and this drug will flip a switch that will increase the reception of stimuli, finally awakening the patient, or so we hope. Results should be seen fairly quickly. It's actually been about 75% successful so far, my dear, so with any luck, your friend here will be talking to you very shortly." That said, he tapped the syringe to get rid of air bubbles and injected Xander without further ceremony.

* * *

Floating in a numb haze, Xander felt something tickling at his awareness. He'd been listening to something in class, trying to figure out what the sound was that was buzzing in his ears and distracting him.

Suddenly, he went from numbness to total sensory overload. The pain was unbearable. Excruciating even. All of his senses were being assaulted at once. His skin, his flesh, his blood felt like it was on fire. When he opened his eyes the brightness pierced his brain. It seemed as if he could smell and taste everything around him. Someone spoke, and the noise was deafening. He leapt to his feet, and tore his clothes from his body to relieve the pain, he couldn't bear anything touching him. He threw himself towards the door and tried to shut the light off but couldn't open his eyes long enough to find the switch, so he huddled down into a corner of the room, squeezing his eyes shut and clutching his hands over his ears, screaming "Make it stop! Please, make it stop! It hurts, oh god! Too bright, too loud!" This was so disorienting, where the hell was he? He'd been in match class one minute, and in this strange room the next!

"Quickly! Restrain him!" boomed a voice, causing him more pain. An orderly grabbed him and he screamed in pain again, even though the orderly was not rough by any normal standard. Xander thrashed about and struggled so violently that he soon felt additional hands helping the orderly, strapping him down in a bed. He whimpered and moaned at the pain caused by the feel of the sheets on his skin, and of the restraints at his wrists and ankles. "Please don't touch me! It hurts…it hurts so much…Please make it stop…" he begged. Despite the pain, he kept struggling, until finally, afraid he might injure himself, the doctor granted him blessed relief by the judicious injection of a powerful sedative.

* * *

At first Willow was happy as she saw Xander open his eyes. "Oh goddess, Xand!" Willow cried in joy. But joy quickly turned to distress and then anger as she witnessed the terrible pain he was in, and how he was restrained and finally sedated. Taking one look at the furious expression on her face, the doctor allowed her to remain at his bedside, afraid of what the redhead might do to him if he tried to make her leave.

When the sedative finally wore off, Xander whimpered after trying to open his eyes once more. Seeing this, Willow turned off most of the lights in the room and spoke softly "Xand? It's me, Willow. I turned off the lights."

Xander winced, "Hey Wills, mind not shouting? I've got a hell of a migraine…"

"O-okay Xand," she whispered. "How's this, better?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"So, how are you feeling? Do you want me to call a nurse?" she asked.

"It feels like every nerve ending I've got is on fire, Wills. And everything is so bright, and loud. And smelly, too. It's like a buffet for the senses but I'm definitely not appreciating the menu. What's happening to me?" tears ran down his face as the pain began to build again.

"Hold on Xan. We're researching possible causes, and we'll find whatever did this to you and fix it. Do you remember anything that could help? Did you get attacked by a demon? Did someone cast a spell on you?" Willow inquired, hoping to get any clues that might help discover the cause of his condition.

"No, nothing like that has happened since the field trip to the zoo. My camping trip was totally non-Hellmouthy…" The pain was getting bad again. "Wills, I think I need that nurse now…."

Willow called the nurse over, and after Xander was unconscious once more, she left the hospital and fled to the school library, where she flung herself into Buffy's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

Once she calmed down, she told Buffy and Giles about what had happened,

"Dear Lord! Girls, didn't you say before this happened that Xander had been telling you of being distracted by things he had been seeing, smelling, hearing? It sounds to me like this drug, by increasing his sensory receptivity, may just have gone and made things worse! What you described Willow, was sensory overload." Giles polished his glasses furiously. /Where the hell have I read about this? Some paper that was published a few months ago, wasn't it? Hmmmm…\\ Pointing to the computer, Giles asked "Willow, do you think you can use that infernal machine to search for research papers having to do with sensory overload, or heightened senses? I think I read something, but I can't remember in which journal it might have been."

Willow jumped to the computer and began typing furiously. At first she got a lot of results that were not related to what they needed, but then she was able to narrow and refine the search to university databases.

"Bingo!" Willow crowed. "'The Sentinel' by Blair Sandburg. It's a thesis on certain types of people with heightened senses. Oh thank the Goddess, he's here in the states, in Cascade, Washington."

"Good." Buffy sighed in relief at finally having an answer, and being able to *do* something. Being action-gal and unable to do anything for Xander all this time had been so frustrating ! "Giles, Wills, pack your bags, I'll go bust Xander out of the hospital. We're taking a trip to Washington."

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

**2. Chapter 2**

CHAPTER 2

"Sandburg! Ellison! My office, now!" bellowed Captain Banks.

"Ok, what did you do this time, Chief?" Jim asked grumpily. _What the hell, we just walked in. This is a new record even for Sandburg._

"Oh man, not cool. Why do you always assume it's my fault?" Blair complained as he walked to the Captain's office.

"Because I've experienced the Sandburg Zone, Chief." Jim smirked, as he followed behind. Walking into the office, he saw Simon wasn't alone. Two men stood inside. The first was in a military uniform, a USAF colonel, hair graying at the temples, scowling at Blair, who was already chattering at the other one, a sandy-blond-haired, bespectacled man with a gentle face, giving as good as he got from Blair.

"Hey Jim, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson, he has a doctorate in Anthropology, and ones in Archeology and linguistics too. Isn't that great, we'll have plenty to talk about.."

Jim groaned. _Not another one!_

The Colonel smirked and held out his hand. "Hi, Colonel Jack O'Neill, US Air Force. As you've heard, this is my colleague Dr. Daniel Jackson. Your enthusiastic friend there has already introduced himself, " he said, looking a little skeptical at the claim that this hippie looking dude was a police Detective. "...and you are?"

"Detective Jim Ellison, Major Crimes division. So, what's this about Simon?"

"The Colonel needs our help. His son is missing."

"Kidnapped?" Jim inquired.

"We're not sure," said O'Neill. "We were supposed to meet for breakfast this morning, then go out later tonight. He's kind of independent, so he came up here on his own. He's ah, got emancipated minor status." the colonel admitted reluctantly. "But he usually stays in touch. And like I said, he missed breakfast this morning. That's not like him, to blow us off without even a voice mail message to explain."

Dr. Jackson held out a file folder. "Here's a recent picture of Jon, his vital statistics, fingerprints, etcetera. He might have been here to check out Ranier University, we had talked about his options and it was on his list. Also, we work on a rather sensitive government project, and it's possible he was taken in an attempt to get some leverage over Jack."

"Ok, well, Dr. Jackson and I can go over to the University and check if Jon had any appointments, and if he kept them or not," Blair offered. This was probably why their team had been chosen, after all, for his connections to the University.

"Ok, Chief, you two do that. Me and Colonel O'Neill will see if we can locate the motel his son might be staying at, and track him from there. Call me if you make any progress."

Since the teenager did not have a credit card, Jim had to do some footwork. Having confirmed with O'Neill that his son had access to only moderate funds, he drove them to the seedier side of town, where they began checking the cheaper motels. "So, Colonel -"

"Call me Jack, Detective."

"Ok, Jack, call me Jim. So Jack, tell me about the kid. You sure he isn't just running away? Doesn't seem like you two are very close, since he filed for emancipated minor status." Jim watched the man carefully.

"Yeah, well, like I said, he's an independent kid. My job keeps me away from home a lot, and without any other family around to help take care of him, we both thought this would be the best solution. He's very responsible for his age, and he's never been out of touch this long before. Plus, we were supposed to have breakfast this morning, and go see a hockey game tonight, and he *never* misses one of our game dates."

Jim could see O'Neill was very worried, but little clues told him he was holding back on something. Stress lines at the eyes, a slightly more rapid than usual heartbeat. "Jack, we'll find him. Blair and I are damn good at our jobs. But is there something else I need to know? Dr. Jackson mentioned that it was possible Jon had been taken in order to influence you...what is it that you do?"

Jack grimaced briefly. "Deep Space Telemetry."

_That was a lie._ Jim thought, as he detected the tell-tale signs. _One he's used to telling, though. _"Deep Space Telemetry. Yeah, right. Pull the other one. I'm sure Dr. Jackson's doctorates in Anthropology, Archeology and Linguistics come in quite useful in charting the stars.," Jim snorted.

Jack's eyes narrowed. "You'd be surprised." Jim snorted again. "Fine. It's classified, ok? You were in covert ops, you know the drill. Suffice it to say that there are plenty of people that would love to get their hands on Jon, to get to me."

They pulled into a Motel Six, and went to talk to the clerk at the check-in desk. Jim flashed his badge and the boy's picture, and saw recognition on the young clerk's face. "Oh yeah, that kid checked in yesterday. Is there a problem Detective?"

"Maybe. What room did he check into?"

"110."

Jim held out his hand. "Key."

"Like, don't you need a warrant, dude?" the clerk asked. His manager was gonna be so pissed at him.

Jim glared and snapped his fingers, still holding out his hand "Key. Now!" Jack also scowled fiercely at the clerk, and the clerk cringed at being the focus of these two powerful men's ire. He handed over the key.

"C'mon Jack. Let's see what we can find."

* * *

As they made their way to the University registrar's office, Blair engaged Daniel in conversation. Much as he loved spending time with Jim, he missed the intellectual stimulation of speaking with like-minded folk. Ever since he'd publically dis-avowed his thesis to protect Jim, he hadn't had much contact with his former University colleagues. "So, what's your area of expertise, Daniel?"

"Egyptology. I studied Ancient Egypt, the pyramids, the people, the languages." Daniel counted down to himself _3...2...1..._

"So, what's an Egyptologist doing with the Air Force?" Blair asked, as they strolled through the campus.

_And there it is. The question. Not that I blame him, it's always the same question. We really need to come up with a better cover story._ Daniel thought to himself in amusement. "Um, well, the project we work on has to do with Deep Space Telemetry. I sometimes translate old texts for them, interpret ancient star charts, that sort of thing..."

"Wow, that's cool. My research was mainly with tribes in South America. If we have the time, we should compare notes, some of the tribes built pyramids just as elaborate as those at Giza. I was more into the anthropological side of things, but I went on a few digs."

Blair held the door to the Registrar's office open for Daniel, then walked up to the girl at the desk. "Hi Marie. How've you been?" he asked, with a warm smile.

"Blair! I'm good. How have you been, sweetie? Haven't seen you around campus in a long while, a girl might think you'd forgotten about her..." she flirted.

"Ah well, you know, ever since the thesis..." he explained, with an embarrassed tone and a sidelong glance at Daniel. Daniel wondered curiously what he was referring to.

"Oh, right. Well, never mind, honey, you know I don't care about those kinds of things." Seeing that the topic was sensitive, and Blair's companion didn't seem to be in the know, she changed the subject. "So what brings you here today?"

Gratefully, Blair explained they were looking for a missing person, and asked her to check if Jonathan O'Neill had made any appointments for a tour of the University, or with an academic counselor. "Hmm, let's see, he did have an appointment with a counselor, but I see by the notes here that his father called about five minutes ago to cancel it due to 'unforeseen circumstances'. He said his son would call back to reschedule later."

Daniel and Blair looked at each other grimly. Since they knew Jack hadn't called, it could only be foul play.

* * *

Jim answered his cell phone. "Ellison. Talk to me." As he listened, his scowl deepened. "Ok Chief, thanks. Get back to the office and pull the phone records...see if you can trace that call." He hung up and turned to Jack, "sorry but it looks like it's definitely a kidnapping. Someone called claiming to be you to cancel the kid's appointments at the University."

Jack just sighed. "Yeah well, my luck is running true to form. Let's check out his room anyways, see if there are any clues there."

Jim opened the door to the room and took a moment to scan it. The room showed obvious signs of a struggle, with items that had been swept off the desk and an overturned chair. He held Jack back from entering. "Don't go in or touch anything Jack. There's definitely been a struggle, so we need to preserve the evidence." Jim called the office for a forensics team to come process the room. Then he pulled out some protective foot coverings, and latex gloves for himself and Jack, since he could see the man was getting more impatient and frustrated by the second. "Ok, while we wait for the CSIs, let's you and me take a look. Don't disturb anything if you can avoid it, but look around and see if anything important jumps out at you."

Jack looked around, then pointed to the ground next to the bed. "That's Jon's wallet. Looks like his money is still in it." This was not good. It could have been something as mundane as a robbery, after all.

Jim's nostrils flared as he caught the scent of blood and something else. He followed the blood scent to the other side of the bed, where he found a shattered lamp. There was blood on the lamp, and blood and hairs on the corner of the night table as well. Damn. O'Neill had noticed where his attention was, and looked grim. "Don't lose hope, Jack. If he was dead they would probably have just left the body here." Jack didn't look like he believed him, which puzzled Jim. What use would anyone have for a dead boy, after all?

Carolyn and her forensic team arrived, so they got out of the room and let the CSIs get to work. They returned to the office to meet with Blair and Daniel.

They walked into the Bullpen, and Daniel got up from where he was sitting next to Blair at Jim and Blair's desks, with a hopeful look on his face, that was dashed as soon as he saw their expressions. "It's bad, isn't it Jack?"

"Well, it's not good Danny-boy. There was some blood." Daniel looked up in alarm and Jack held up his hand. "Ah! Don't panic! You know they want him alive." He turned to Jim and Blair, "I need to call my CO and the rest of my team, and give them an update." He stepped away and took out his cell phone to make some calls.

Jim turned to Blair. "Ok Chief, found anything yet?"

"The phone records are coming up on my screen now, Jim. Hmm, looks like a call was made from the Imperial Hotel to the University this morning. Was that where the boy was staying?" Blair asked.

"Nope, looks like we have a lead. C'mon, let's go, the Imperial isn't too far from here and it's only been a half hour since the call was made. If we're lucky we might catch the sonuvabitches before they can take the boy somewhere else."

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

**3. Chapter 3**

CHAPTER 3

Cascade airport, the previous evening

"Buffy, slow down!" Willow demanded. Willow pushed Xander's wheelchair out of the Arrivals lounge as quickly as she could, as she and Giles strove to catch up with the determined Slayer.

"Sorry Wills. I just want to get us out of here as quickly as possible, Xander wigging on the plane freaked me out, I guess." They had had to sedate Xander heavily as the noise of the plane overloaded his hearing had caused him to bleed from one of his eardrums and shriek in pain, and neither Buffy nor Willow were taking it well.

"Yes, well, I dare say none of us are at all happy about it, least of all Xander. Get our luggage, Buffy, and Willow and I will see to renting a car to get us to our hotel." Giles instructed. "Come along, Willow."

* * *

Once they were in the room, a suite with two bedrooms, they settled Xander on one of the beds. Willow closed the curtains, and turned off the lights. Then she and Giles cast a small charm to muffle sounds coming from outside the room, so that Xander could get some sleep.

"Very good Willow, your magical studies seem to be progressing nicely."

"Thanks Giles, guess I'm motivated." she said, looking towards Xander's room.

"Yes well, don't worry dear girl. We'll find this Sandburg fellow and get Xander some help." Giles reassured her. Speaking to both of his girls now, he said "right then, let's get some sleep. We've all had a long day, and it's rather late. We'll call Mr. Sandburg tomorrow morning."

As if Giles' words had triggered it, Buffy and Willow found themselves yawning and barely able to stay awake. All the worrying and the frenzied escape from the hospital had finally caught up with them, so they followed his advice and went to bed.

* * *

In the next room, two men in black suits looked over the bound figure of a teenaged boy. "Did you have to push him, Bob? That dent in his head looks serious, " Rob asked of his partner.

"Yeah, well the little bastard shouldn't have smashed me over the head with the lamp. Rob!" Bob hissed angrily.

"Just go to sleep. I'll take first watch. In the morning, the pick-up team will get here and we can take him back to the labs."

The boy stirred, and groaned. "Ow, anyone get the license plate of that truck?" Then he opened his eyes and groaned again, this time in disgust. "Great! If it isn't the Bobsey twins. How've ya been, boys? Torture any animals, lately?"

Bob looked like he wanted to smack the kid. "Keep it up, wiseass, and I'll hit you again." Bob's cell phone range, so he stepped into the bathroom to take the call.

"Really, Mr. O'Neill, there's no need to be childish. If you just co-operate a little, this won't even be all that unpleasant an experience."

"Yeah, sure, youbetchya." Jon snorted contemptuously. "Look, geniuses, it's the same routine every time..you kidnap me, you screw up and Jack finds me, Jack kicks your ass . Let just skip all that, k? You let me go and I'll give you a head start so maybe if you're lucky you can miss out on the ass-kicking this time around."

Rob looked amused. "Nice try, Mr. O'Neill. I hope you weren't counting on this?" he inquired, holding up a smashed watch. "I'm sure by now Colonel O'Neill has discovered that the GPS chip in the watch is non-functional."

_Crap._ Jon thought. "Yeah...well, you still screwed up. I've already missed my breakfast meet with Jack and Danny, and I have an appointment at the University with a counselor who is a really good friend of Daniel's. If I miss that, he'll be sure to call Daniel, who will know something's up!" Jon was lying through his teeth, but they didn't have to know that.

"Hmm, well, breakfast can't be helped, but let's see what we can do about that appointment, shall we?" He took the precaution of gagging the boy before he placed the call. He had to use the hotel room's phone, since his partner Bob was busy using their cell phone at the moment. "Hello? Yes, who would I speak to about canceling an appointment with a counselor? Yes, hello miss. My name is Jack O'Neill, I am Jon's father. I believe he had an appointment this morning with one of the counselors. Well, unforeseen circumstances have interfered and I'm afraid he'll have to cancel and call back to reschedule at another time. Thank you for being so understanding, my dear."

_Well, crap. Me and my big mouth._ Rob patted him on the cheek, and Jon growled indignantly and glared at him over the gag.

Bob came out of the bathroom with a grin on his face. "Pick up team's in town, the van will be downstairs in the parking garage in 20 minutes."

* * *

Xander woke up. He glanced over and saw Giles sleeping in the other bed.

Taking stock of his condition, he was surprised that he wasn't in pain. His senses seemed to be a bit active but not overly so at the moment, for which he was grateful. He got up and went to the bathroom, and took care of his needs. Then, looking in the mirror, he saw about what he had expected – evidence of pain, dark circles under the eyes, but hey – at least he wasn't dead. He saw something yellow and brown streak quickly behind him in the reflection of the mirror, and spun around to see what it was. Sitting in the doorway was a Hyena.

_Oh crap._

Ghostly laughter cackled in his mind. _No, pup. You've already taken care of that._

_Great, why'd I have to get possessed by the comedian of the natural world? Look, I don't have any taste for raw pork, or raw principal either, so let's get this straight right now, I won't let you control me!_

_Calm yourself, pup. I have no desire to control you. The spirit which possessed you is gone, though her gifts remain. She was a Primal Spirit, and Alpha. I am male, a Beta, and merely a Spirit Guide. I am here to guide you pup, just as others of my kind guide your brothers._

_Brothers?_ Xander inquired. _I'm an only child._

_Others like you, Aconcagua._ At Xander's blank look, Beta said _Sentinels, and their Guides of course._

Xander vaguely remembered Willow babbling something about sentinels at him before they knocked him out on the plane. He'd have to ask her later. _Oh. So, um, why are you here then, if you aren't gonna be all-takeover-hyena-boy?_

The Hyena stood up an walked to the door leading out of the hotel suite, and Xander followed. _Come, pup, there is danger afoot and you must track it down._

Xander looked over towards the other room's door, where he could hear light snuffles emanating. His girls were sleeping in there, he was sure.

_No time, pup! Quickly or they will escape and the other will die!_ The Hyena ran through the solid door as if it wasn't there, and Xander made his choice. Without another look back, he opened the door and exited the suite. He barely saw Beta's tail as the Hyena loped round the corner. Xander ran after him, and saw they were headed for the elevators. The hallway was empty except for two men in suits and a teenager in a hoodie. The hood fell off the teen's head and to his surprise, Xander saw that the teen was gagged. The wild-eyed teen was struggling with his captors. One of the two men lifted a short billy club, intent on knocking the boy out. Xander ran towards them and grabbed the teen, intent on preventing the men from dragging him into the elevator, but he forgot the club until he felt it connect with the back of his head.

"Shit! Drag him into the elevator, Bob." Rob ordered his partner.

"What the hell for? Let's just leave him."

"No, we can't, I saw a couple of hotel room doors opening, hurry up and get him in the elevator so the doors can close, before someone sees us and calls hotel security or something." _Damn, why does every NID mission involving either of the O'Neills go south? I swear if I live through this I'm getting reassigned to something nice and uncomplicated...like Afghanistan, maybe._

* * *

Fortunately, the elevator went all the way down to the parking garage, and even more fortunately, did not stop at any other floors. Bob dragged a cuffed and unconscious Xander, while Rob pushed the cuffed and gagged Jon O'Neill to the waiting van. Once inside, he removed Jon's gag, and Jon immediately demanded, "Hey, leave the kid! He isn't a part of this."

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Mr. O'Neill. He's seen us, and you. If we leave him he'll just raise a ruckus and start the hunt too soon. We'd rather the trail be nice and cold before anyone starts looking for you. But tell you what, you play nice with us and we won't kill the boy. Fail to co-operate, and he will suffer. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal." Jon glowered at the NID agent.

* * *

"Good morning, Buffy!" chimed a chipper Willow.

Buffy pulled the covers over her head and grunted. "Ugh, Willow, go back to sleep!"

"Nope! Get out of bed, sleepy-head! We have import things to do today!" and she yanked the covers off.

"What has you so damn perky, this morning?"

"Today's the day we fix Xander! We're gonna call that Sandburg guy and he's gonna cure Xander and then we can all go home and everything'll be fine again and back to normal, well Sunnydale-normal anyways."

Buffy smiled and gave in to the perky redhead, and got out of bed.

Once they had showered and dressed, the girls stepped out into the suite. As Buffy was about to knock on Xander and Giles' door, it was yanked open, and Giles yelled, "Buffy! Have you seen Xander? He isn't in his bed!"

Striding into the lobby, Jim walked directly over to the Reception desk and flashed his badge. Behind him, Blair, jack and Daniel followed closely.

The clerk called over the manager on duty immediately, as she could see something serious was up. "Can I help you, Detective?"

"Yes, I need to find out which room this telephone number belongs to." He showed the printout of the phone records to the manager.

"Ah, may I inquire about the reason? I am obligated to protect our guests' privacy..."

"Look, it's an emergency, there's been a kidnapping. We don't need any delays!" Jim growled. Jack backed him up with his infamous O'Neill scowl once more.

"I see. Well, Detective, it's rather simple, the extension corresponds to the room number...room 304, ah as per our logs, the room was paid for about 15 minutes ago. I was here when he was checking out, and if I recall the gentleman mentioned he'd be going back up to the room to collect his friend and their luggage and would leave the card key on the desk."

"Great, room 304 then! Let's go!" and Jim grabbed the manager on the way to the elevator.

Once on the third floor they headed down a hall and turned right till they got to #304. "Ok, use your passkey to unlock the door and step back" Jim instructed the manager. The manager slid his passkey through the electronic lock and Jim went inside. He already knew the room was empty, having listened through the door and detected no heartbeats or other human sounds.

"There's nobody here." Daniel stated. "We're too late."

Jack held up the smashed watch he'd seen on the night table. "Well, we know he was here, at least."

Out in the hall, a small blond girl was demanding passage. As her way was blocked by the hotel manager, Daniel, and Blair. "Out of the way, people, can't you see we're in a hurry?"

Behind her, Willow was in tears again. "Make them move, Buffy, we have to find Xander! The locater spell showed he was still in the building, somewhere underground. We're gonna lose him!"

The men moved aside, but Buffy found her way still blocked. A black jaguar and a wolf stood in her way. "Ok, what's with the menagerie? Dude, get your pets out of the way!" she told Blair.

The manager, Daniel and Jack looked at the blond girl in confusion, but Blair looked at the Spirit Guides, and then at Buffy, in shock.

"You can see them?"

"Yes I can, and they are in my way. Make them move, now!"

{A/N: Aconcagua = White Sentinel, which is Xander's Chopec name, just as Enquieri is Jim's.}


	4. Chapter 4

**4. Chapter 4**

CHAPTER 4

The jaguar and the wolf moved to either side and the blond, the redhead and the older gentleman hurried towards the elevators. The Spirit guides looked at Blair, for a moment, and followed the trio.

"Jim!" Blair called urgently.

Jim, engrossed in his sensory inspection of the hotel room, responded to Blair's urgent tone and was by his side in a moment, ready to pound flat whatever had threatened his Guide. Thus, he was just in time to see the backsides of their spirit guides turning the corner. Without any need for discussion, Blair and Jim sped off after the spirits.

Jack, bewildered by their behaviour, looked at Danny, who just shrugged. "We'd better follow them, Jack, I'm not sure what's going on but it might be important." So they ran after the other pair.

Blair had just stuck his hand into an elevator to prevent the doors from closing, when they heard an irate girl threaten "Get your arm out of the doors and let us go, Fuzzball, or I'll rip it off!"

"You and what army, sister?" growled Jim.

"Whoa! Let's all calm down here, ok?" Daniel, ever the peacemaker.

Jack could see it wasn't working. The little blond yappy thing looked ready to bite someone, the older dude had a dangerous look in his eye, and the little red firecracker looked like she was ready to blow. Jack decided to make an 'executive decision' and shoved everyone into the elevator. The doors closed. "So, come here often?"

The blond looked like she was thinking about ripping him half, then thought better of it. "Where to, Wills?"

"P1, Buffy, the parking garage! Can't this thing go any faster?" Red seemed a little frantic.

Blair tried to apologize. "Look, miss, I'm sorry if things got off on the wrong foot. I was just startled that you could see... *them* ..." he said, flicking his eyes to the spirits curled up in a corner, and looking askance at Jack and Daniel. "They usually only appear when Jim or I need them..."

"Ok, apology accepted, I guess, but try to stay out of my way, we're sort of in the middle of an emergency...our best friend is missing, and we're tracking him down..." Blondie ran her hand through her hair, looking worried.

Jim, still hovering over Blair in Blessed Protector mode, was trying to process what he was hearing and seeing. It seemed girlie could see the spirit guides, and the guides had some interest in their quest for their missing friend, since they had followed her to the elevator. Which meant he and Blair had to have some interest in this.

The elevator reached its destination, and the blond – Buffy - pushed her way through. A black van was heading towards the exit ramp, and the redhead shrieked "Stop that van, Buffy! Xander's inside!"

Buffy started running after the van, but it seemed someone in the van had heard the redhead. A man stuck his head out the passenger side window, looked back and cursed, then evidently told the driver to step on it. With a squeal of tires from the sudden acceleration, the van sped up the ramp and quickly disappeared from sight.

Jack swore like only a soldier could. "Dammit, Danny, that was Rob Jacobs, wasn't it?"

"Yeah Jack, I think it was."

Buffy whirled on the two, and demanded, "Explain. Now." The blond, redhead and the older guy in tweed all advanced on him menacingly.

Jack was actually a bit scared of the looks in their eyes. "Robert Jacobs. I think he's one of the men that kidnapped my son. And he's a government agent with the NID."

"Dear lord!"

* * *

After hurried introductions, the two groups found themselves back upstairs in the hotel suite next to the room where Jon had been held. Jim was on the phone giving the van's license plate number to his captain, to have an APB put out for the vehicle. When he was finished, he turned to the man who had identified himself as Rupert Giles.

"Mr. Giles, do you know why your friend would have been taken by the NID?" Jim asked.

"Not a bloody clue, I'm afraid Detective. We only arrived here last night. Xander, the boy, is ill, and we are here in town to find a specialist. I know he was still in his bed this morning around 7 am, as I had briefly woken up to go to the bathroom. I went back to sleep, and when I woke up around 9 am, he was missing. Your group and ours crossed paths a few minutes later in the hallway and you know the rest from there."

"Well, it's possible he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We were here in hot pursuit of kidnappers who have taken Colonel O'Neill's son, who was being held in the next room. Perhaps your friend saw them as they were ready to leave, and they decided to take him to prevent him from raising the alarm."

Jim turned and addressed Willow. "Ms. Rosenburg, earlier you mentioned you had some means of locating Alexander, is it still working?"

"Um, it doesn't last very long, that's why we were in a hurry. And it has a short range, so by now they've probably taken him far enough away that it won't work." Willow started hyperventilating. "   
-"

Jim's head snapped around as he heard the name 'Sandburg' somewhere in the middle of the babbling girl's speech. He moved closer to Blair.

"Breathe Wills!" Buffy grabbed her friend, but Willow was too far gone. Her hair started to blow in an unseen breeze, and her eyes were filing up with an oily blackness. Buffy's grip was forcibly released. "Giles! Willow's giving me a major wiggins here!"

Jack had had enough. Something weird was going on. "What the hell is going on here? What's up with Red?" Jack mouthed the word 'snakehead?' at Daniel, but Daniel shook his head.

"Oh dear, she's rather distraught, Xander and she are very close, I must say I had not expected this level of power so early in her studies-" Giles cut himself off as he realized he was perhaps saying too much.

Before Jim could pull him back, Blair approached Willow and spoke to her, "Willow, you need to calm down now. Detective Ellison and I will find your friend, he'll be alright." He continued to speak softly to her, and rubbed her arm in a soothing manner. Something seemed to switch off and the girl collapsed sobbing into his arms. Blair took her over to the couch and sat down beside her.

Calming down finally, she apologized "I'm sorry, I'm just so worried, we didn't even get a chance to contact that guy for Xander..."

"Um, yes, about that?" Blair asked. You mentioned the name Sandburg? What's the full name of the man you came here to meet?"

"Blair Sandburg, why?" asked Giles. Jack and Daniel looked on in curiosity, this was getting more surreal by the minute.

Blair held out his hand "Hi, Detective Blair Sandburg, at your service."

"Dear lord!"

"Well, two 'Dear lords' in the space of twenty minutes, that's a new record." Buffy grinned.

Caught up in the moment, Jim grinned back at her "Welcome to the Sandburg Zone."

Xander woke up and groaned. Trying to get up, he found that his hands were cuffed behind his back. Cracking an eye open, he saw the kid from the elevator lying beside him, similarly cuffed.

"Welcome to the land of the living," Jon said. "I'm Jon, and our lovely hosts here" he said nodding towards the two black suited goons, "are Bob and Rob."

"Well, better than the land of the unliving, I suppose. Name's Xander. Under the circumstances, I hope you'll understand if I don't say I'm pleased to meet you. So where are we?" Xander looked around but all he could see was a rather featureless room with just the bed they were on, a couple of chairs, and the goons standing in front of the door.

"Well, after a lovely little van ride, we are now somewhere, I know not where, at the tender not-existent mercies of the NID. The Bobsey twins there are our babysitters."

Xander smirked. "They don't look too happy about it."

"That's cause we're not, you little punk. Thanks to you, we were spotted and have to lay low, which to our Bosses means we get guard duty on you little twerps," snarled Bob, out of sorts at being forced to continue this assignment when he had been looking forward to being rid of the O'Neill kid.

"I'm so sad for you – not!" Xander snarked.

"Keep it up, punk, they only want the other kid, you're expendable." Bob sneered.

Rob unlocked the cuffs and the two boys sat up on the bed and rubbed their wrists. "Ok, here are the rules...Be good little boys and do as you're told. You," he pointed at Xander, "don't make trouble. You," he pointed at Jon, "cooperate with the nice doctors."

"And if I don't?" Jon demanded.

"Then you'll get to participate posthumously, and your friend gets to be a lab rat."

Jon breathed in sharply. Xander wasn't all that thrilled, himself. The 'twins' left and there was an audible click of a lock as the door shut behind them.

Xander stood up and started to pace. Then he turned to Jon and asked, "Ok, just what the hell have I gotten myself into? Doctors? Lab rat? This is not of the good."

"Yeah, sorry kid. These government goons have been after me for a while."

"Why?"

"Guess I'm just special." Jon said with a smirk.

Xander smirked right back at him. "Yeah, don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look all that special to me. My life is on the line here too, so give with the details."

"Look, let's just say I have some unique genetics and if that wasn't enough my dad works in a classified government project and they'd love to use me against him once they're done slicing and dicing."

"Great, just great. And I'm the spare lab rat? Fantastic. Once again, Xander is the butt-monkey of the universe!" Xander stopped pacing and slumped back down on the edge of the bed to sulk.

"Sorry."

The lock clicked once more, and the door opened to show the goons and a man in a white lab coat. Rob gestured with his gun for Jon to come out. Jon exited the room and followed where he was bid. Xander was left alone in the room, and Jon could only hope that Jack hurried up and came to the rescue really soon.

* * *

Xander's senses were flaring up again as his stress levels increased. The kid, Jon, had been gone for a little over an hour, but Xander had been able to 'follow' him with his hearing. He could hear every word that bastard doctor had said, about testing his genetic resistance to some new ghouls devices whatever that meant; he heard the sounds of what could only be Jon being strapped down to something, and finally he heard Jon's screams. When the screams stopped, he strained and he thought he could hear Jon's heartbeat...rapid, but still there. Then, Jon's heartbeat and a couple of others were coming towards the room, so he backed away from the door, since he didn't want to get shot. The door opened and two orderly types deposited Jon on the bed. Xander could smell blood and sweat, and see the bruises. He whirled on the men and hissed, "What did you bastards do to him?"

The orderlies stepped back out of the room as the boy advanced on them with a murderous look in his eyes. Rob placed his gun at Xander's temple and said, "No heroics, now, kid. Get back in the room. I'll have them bring some food, and some stuff so you can take care of his injuries. Then I suggest you get some sleep."

Xander stepped back inside, his glare transferring to the agent and promising mayhem. When the promised food and supplies were brought, he growled at them, then turned to take care of Jon. First, he stripped him down to his boxers, and then did a thorough inspection, running his hypersensitive hands over Jon's body. He found numerous bruises, some cuts, and what he was sure were needle marks, though how he could feel something that small was mind boggling. He cleaned the cuts and applied some antiseptic spray, then bandages.

Jon felt the sting of the antiseptic, and woke up. Finding himself clad only in his boxers, he quipped, "Hey Xander, I like ya man, but not on the first date."

Xander smirked, "Get over yourself. Here, for the pain." Xander handed over a couple of Tylenol and a bottle of water, which Jon accepted gratefully. Then they both ate some food. When they were done, Xander told Jon, "take the bed and get some rest. I'll grab a pillow and bunk down on the floor."

"Don't be an idiot, the bed is big enough for the both of us, and I don't bite."

"Yeah right, that's what they all say, then next thing you know you've been attacked by wild animals with barbeque forks."

Jon looked perplexedly at Xander. "You are one weird kid."

"You don't know the half of it. Just keep the teeth away from the Xan-man and we'll be fine"

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

**5. Chapter 5**

CHAPTER 5

Several hours later, they were no closer to finding Jon O'Neill or Xander Harris, but Blair had been able to get the story of why these people were looking for him. It seemed a copy of his thesis was still floating around in the University database, despite the press conference, and these folks had found it in their search to help their friend. Xander's symptoms certainly sounded like the hypersensitivity of an unbonded Sentinel.

"Can you cure him, Mr. Sandburg?" asked Willow hopefully.

Blair tried to break it to her gently. "ah, there is no 'cure' for this condition, Willow, it's not a disease." She obviously didn't like hearing that, but she kept a grip on her emotions. "Xander is a Sentinel, as described by Richard Burton in his book of the same name, a warrior with heightened senses that help him protect the tribe. But in order to function, he needs a Guide, to help center him and utilize the senses to their full potential."

"Ok, what does Liz Taylor's ex-husband actor guy have to do with anything?" asked Buffy impatiently.

"A different Richard Burton, Buffy. A scientist, not an actor." Daniel interjected. He remembered that book, and was intrigued to learn that not only were Sentinels real, but Jim Ellison was one, and so apparently was this boy Xander.

Jack had had enough. "Look, this is all very fascinating, but can we table this for later. My son and your friend are both still missing. What are we doing about that?"

"Yeah," Buffy said. "Can't 'dark, tall and growly' over there sniff them out or something?"

"I'm not a bloodhound, you know." Jim spat indignantly.

"Well then what about the cat and the wolf?" Buffy pointed to them in the corner, where the spirit guides had settled.

"Oh fer cryin' out loud! Again with the mumbo-jumbo!"

"Jack – calm down." Daniel took Jack aside and spoke to him quietly. "I know you're worried about mini-jack, but try not to antagonize anyone, ok Jack?"

"But Danny," he whispered, "invisible cats and dogs? You can't be taking this seriously..."

"Actually Jack, there's a long tribal tradition concerning spirit animals that help and guide members of the tribe when there's trouble."

"Daniel's right, Jack. The Chopecs teach that every Sentinel and every Guide have a spirit animal. The jaguar is Jim's, and the wolf is mine. When they appeared here today and followed Buffy, they were giving Jim and I a message that we had to follow too. Good thing we did, and that you did too, since you were there to see that man and identify him."

"Fine. I concede the point. So what do the cat and dog say?"

Jim looked annoyed, as did the jaguar. The wolf just grinned a wolfish grin. "Um, they don't talk, mostly, and right now they aren't going anywhere. They seem to be waiting for something, but I'm not sure what," said Blair.

"Great, well I'll just check if the General has any news for me on the NID angle." Jack flipped open his cell phone in irritation as he stepped into one of the bedrooms to make his call. Daniel glanced an apology at Blair and Jim, and followed.

* * *

Jon wasn't sure how much sleep they'd gotten, since there was no clock in the room and neither of them had a watch. But they'd come and taken him again, then brought him back and delivered food and first aid supplies again. Jon was not in great shape physically, but Xander seemed to be taking Jon's injuries harder than Jon was. This time, when the 'twins' had delivered the food and first aid stuff, Xander had nearly pounced them, howling like a madman. Bob had delivered a powerful backhanded slap that drove Xander to the ground. Xander jumped up and Rob looked ready to shoot, so Jon had grabbed Xander around the waist and pulled him back onto the bed with him to save him.

Xander once again subjected him to a physical inspection, then fussed over his injuries. Once that was taken care of, he hovered over Jon overprotectively. "Xander, stop it. You aren't my mother. You're too ugly for that."

Xander chuckled and sat down on the bed next to Jon. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"I've been tortured – what's your excuse?" That was obviously the wrong this to say. Looks of rage, swiftly replaced by anguish and then helplessness swept across Xander's face. He jumped back up and started to pace again, like a crazed beast in a cage. Suddenly, he stopped and cocked his head to the side. "Xander? Something wrong?"

"Shhh." Xander shushed him.

* * *

Xander thought he was going crazy. After their little nap, he'd woken up with his arms around Jon. He'd almost freaked, but fortunately he just slowly disentangled himself without waking the kid up. After that little conversation they'd had about not crossing the line, this was embarrassing. Granted, he hadn't bitten Jon, but this was almost as bad.

When they came to take Jon away again, it had been all he could do to restrain himself from jumping the orderlies and the two goons. And what he'd heard of Jon's ordeal had him frantic. When he was brought back, Jon had been in worse shape, this time. Xander raged and howled as he tried to pound that creep Bob into paste, but Bob had backhanded him and he fell to the floor. He jumped up, ready to go again despite the gun Rob was flashing, but Jon grabbed him around the waist from behind and wouldn't let go. He calmed down a little and after the door was closed and locked, he tended to Jon's injuries. There were a couple of cracked ribs this time. He hovered over Jon, as if to shield him from further harm, but Jon was not amused.

"Xander, stop it. You aren't my mother. You're too ugly for that." Jon told him.

He chuckled at that and sat down on the bed next to Jon. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

"I've been tortured – what's your excuse?"

Xander was devastated, Jon was right. He was the one being worked over, not Xander. Xander started pacing, he had to get them out of there, had to get out, had to...He stopped pacing and listened. Something had caught his attention.

"Xander? Something wrong?" Jon asked.

"Shhh." Xander shushed him, and tried to pick up the conversation that had grabbed his attention.

"-ready to move him to the facility at area 51 in an hour. We need to do a few more tests before the scientists get impatient and dissect him."

"Yes, Director. What should we do with the Harris kid?"

"Give him to Dr. Moores, he's still wanting to test some of those Goa'uld devices on normal humans, now that he's satisfied himself on the level of resistance the Ancients gene grants O'Neill. Dispose of the body as usual, no need to leave the police or the SGC any clues."

"Yes sir. Shall I..."

Xander strained to hear more as the conversation seemed to fade out, and lost himself to the rush of noise that ensued.

* * *

Xander hadn't moved in ten minutes. His head was still cocked to the side, and he was just standing there and staring sightlessly into space. It was freaky.

Jon grabbed him by the arm, but Xander didn't respond. He took Xander's face gently in his hand and patted his cheek gently, while he spoke to him, "Hey buddy, c'mon now, wake up Xander. You're scaring me now...Snap out of it!" Jon yelled at the end.

Xander blinked, "Wuh?"

"Oh thank God. Don't do that again, Space cadet!"

"Sorry., I heard something, got kind of distracted, listening to a phone conversation." Xander explained.

"Listening? I didn't hear anything."

"Yeah, um, I have really good hearing. Anyways...some Director guy was giving some unpleasant-for-us instructions to our babysitters. Seems you're being shipped off to area 51 and I get to be the new lab rat after all, as short-lived as the experience may be. Whatever these ghoul devices are, judging by your condition I'd rather skip the experience."

Xander's looked over Jon's shoulder as he heard a familiar cackle. _Where the HELL have you been?_

_Right here pup, watching over you and the boy._

_Did you hear what I said? We've got less than an hour before they come for us!_

_I heard. You must stay strong. I will go for help._

_Help? You're an insubstantial spirit! What can you do?_

_More than you think. Stay here. Guard the boy. I will return._ And the Hyena ran off, and through the wall.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

**6. Chapter 6**

CHAPTER 6

Jack and Daniel rejoined the rest of the folks in the hotel suite's common room. "Well, the General said that no one matching Jon or Xander's or Agent Jacob's descriptions have been seen entering any of the NID's known compounds, but they'll keep looking and let us know if that changes."

"We've still got an APB out on that van. We'll find them." Blair reassured him.

"We'd better," intoned Buffy direly, "because if anything's happened to Xander I'm gonna rip somebody's arms off and feed them to him, and then I'll get really mad!"

Daniel blinked at the sheer bloodthirstiness the petite blonde evidenced.

Jack smiled to himself. _She's not so bad after all._

Blair noticed the jaguar and the wolf rise up and stretch, then look with anticipation towards the door to the hallway. "Jim…" he said, looking in the same direction.

Everyone turned and looked at the door, but only the spirit guides, as well as Jim, Blair and Buffy saw the Hyena appear before the door.

Buffy felt a bit nervous, considering the last encounter she'd had with a hyena. "Um, nice puppy."

"Buffy, what do you see? Another wolf?" asked Willow.

"Er, no, a hyena."

"EEP!" Willow squeaked. "Does it look hungry?"

The hyena cackled at this and grinned widely. _Be at ease, Slayer, and calm the Witch. I have no need for sustenance and I mean you no harm._

"It's ok, Wills, he says he doesn't need to eat and isn't here to harm us."

Willow sighed in relief. "Oh, that's good, then. Because we don't have a spare mascot or a principal at the moment and I'm too young to be kibble and-" Giles gently covered her mouth with his hand and hugged her to him, to calm her down.

Then the hyena turned to the jaguar and the wolf, who had walked forward, and touched noses briefly with the new arrival. _Greetings, brothers._

Blair spoke to the hyena. "Honored spirit, what is your purpose here?"

_I am here concerning the pups. They are in danger, and time grows short._

"Danger? What danger?" demanded Jim and Buffy simultaneously.

_Those who have them intend to move one and slay the other. Follow me and I will lead you to them, or you will lose them both!_ The hyena turned and ghosted through the door, the jaguar and wolf following after giving meaningful looks to Jim and Blair.

Jack was irritated, the crazy just never stopped around this bunch, but he decided he'd play along. "What did it say? What danger was it talking about?"

"It said that the kidnappers were going to move one of the 'pups' and kill the other and it wants us to follow it to them." Buffy explained, hoping army-guy wouldn't get difficult again. But he surprised her.

"Ok, let's move out people, lead on you three," he said, gesturing to Jim, Blair and Buffy.

Everyone left the room and followed the guides to the parking garage, where they split up into two cars. The chase was on.

Xander was pacing again. The whole caged animal thing was getting on his nerves. "Xander, sit the hell down, we need to make a plan."

Xander knew that, but the stress was getting to him. He could hear Bob out there, hoping Jon would try something so he could 'take care of him', not to mention being positively gleeful at getting permission to 'take care of the Harris punk' when the docs were through with him. Strangely, his own impending demise wasn't wigging him out as badly as Jon's. He'd just met the kid, and somehow he couldn't bear the thought of him dying. Something Hellmouthy had to be going on. He'd think about it later, if there was a later.

"Right, a plan. Hmmm, don't have a knife or a gun stashed away anywhere do you?"

"Sorry, fresh out."

"Bollocks." Xander looked around at the meager contents of the room, one bed, two sturdy-looking chairs, two coke bottles (empty) and a paper bag with some gauze, alcohol and other non-lethal first aid supplies. He grabbed one of the chairs and inspected it, finding a hairline crack he could exploit, then told Jon, "Guess we'll have to pull a MacGyver then, and improvise. When I give the signal, cough REALLY loudly, cough up a lung if you have to, because I need some noise to cover for what I'm about to do." Xander signaled and Jon started coughing loudly, at which point Xander brought his foot down on the chair at the weak point. The chair splintered quite satisfactorily at that spot, and he came away with a hefty club in his hands. He set it on the bed and signaled Jon to do it again, whereupon he broke off another club from the remains of the chair.

Xander heard the click of the lock, and saw the doorknob beginning to turn, so he quickly swept the pieces of the chair and the two improvised clubs under the bed, then he and Jon stood to block the view, to hide the fact that only one chair remained in the room.

"You ok in here?" Rob asked, as he opened the door. The last thing he needed was for O'Neill to keel over, no matter how eager his partner Bob was to kill him.

Jon cleared his throat. "Ah, fine, just something caught in my throat." Rob closed and locked the door again.

Wanting to do his part, Jon took up the paper bag and the empty coke bottles, which were fortunately the retro glass variety. He emptied half the alcohol into each bottle, and stuffed lengths of gauze in as wicks. He could always break the bottles and use them that way, but they had the clubs for close-combat, and nothing for ranged combat. Besides, Jon figured if he could get his hands on a lighter or some matches, these might make a nice distraction, and if the clubs worked, they'd get their hands on at least one gun.

Xander took the improvised clubs out from under the bed and handed one to Jon. "Guess you know what to do with this. Now we wait."

Jack was hanging onto the dashboard for dear life. _She's insane! How did she ever get a driver's license?_ he thought to himself as the rental car sped and swerved through traffic along the highway, keeping pace with the Jim, Blair and Daniel who were in Jim's truck, and presumably with the animal guides. In the rearview mirror, he could see that Mr. Giles and the redhead Willow had equally white knuckled-grips on the backs of the seats in front of them.

"Buffy, do be careful! Xander will have no one to rescue him if we all perish in a fiery car crash," Giles pleaded. How had he let himself be convinced to let Buffy drive?

"Yeah, what he said," agreed Jack.

"Big babies, stop complaining! I have to keep up with the others and the dog and kitty show, don't I? Jim has his flashy police light thingy on his car roof to make cars get out of his way, I don't, so I have to dodge cars sometimes."

"Dodge less – forcefully, please Buffy?" asked Willow, looking a trifle green.

In the truck, Daniel was eagerly questioning Blair about Sentinels, Guides and animal spirit guides. Jim just groaned. _How did I get stuck in a confined space with two geekboys that never shut up? You owe me big for this one, Chief._ He tuned them out and concentrated on not losing the spirit guides.

Xander heard two people approaching, and even felt confident enough to identify them as Bob and Rob, based on the pattern of their walks, and the smells of their aftershave, cigarette smoke, etc, that had become familiar to him over the past couple of days. Jon and Xander positioned themselves, hefting the makeshift clubs, knowing they only had one chance at this.

Bob unlocked and opened the door, and walked in, looking down at and fumbling for his handcuffs in the holder on his belt, "Ok you little shit. Time to go!" Rob followed closely behind, holding his gun extended and ready to cover the boys.

Yelling "Now!" Xander reached from behind the door and yanked Bob off balance further into the room, following up to club him over the head before he could recover. "Yes! Who's the man? Xan-man!"

Simultaneously, Jon brought the club down with all the force he could summon onto Rob's arm. Rob dropped the gun and his arm dropped uselessly to his side, but he recovered and kicked Jon in the knee. "Shit!" Jon swore as he automatically clutched at his knee, dropping the club and falling onto his ass. _That hurts like a bitch!_ Rob grabbed the club out of the air with his good hand and advanced on him.

Xander turned around, still triumphant, and saw the club coming down to cave in Jon's head. He growled in fury and tackled Rob, slamming him into the wall. He wrapped his hands around the agent's throat, all he could think of was to end the threat to Jon. Rob's face turned red and his hand scrabbled frantically at Xander's hands, but Xander wouldn't let go, until finally a voice, Jon's voice, penetrated his consciousness.

"Xander! Stop it! Snap out of it, we don't have time for this, we gotta go!" Xander let go of Rob's throat and the man gasped, then Xander punched him viciously, knocking him out cold. The boys quickly divested the agents of their guns and an extra ammo clip each, and Jon was happy when he found a lighter in Bob's pocket. No car keys, though. _Crap. It's couldn't be that simple, of course not._

Xander took the remaining gauze and quickly bound and gagged the two agents, whom he had gleefully stripped down to their boxers. Both were placed on the bed, face to face. "You guys make a cute couple," he said with a grin.

Then he listened to see if the alarm had been raised, and was pleased to note that their little ruckus had gone unnoticed.

"Ok Jon, follow behind me. We're sneaking outta this joint."

"Right behind ya, kiddo."

They'd bundled up the 'twins' clothes and taken them with them, then hidden them under the sofa cushions in another room. Xander chuckled to himself, figuring that if Bob and Rob did get free, they might be reluctant to run out after them in their skivvies.

Using his senses to guide them through the building while avoiding the people within, Xander had almost gotten them out scot-free. But someone must have found the dimwitted duo, because an alarm started blaring. "Ah crap! Run for it, the exit is up ahead!"

Giving up stealth for speed they barreled ahead and through the door. Once outside, they kept running, Xander steering them towards some trees he saw up ahead. The sun was setting, but he was able to see quite well.

Seeing the black van and a 4 wheel drive range rover parked near the building, Jon opened the unlocked doors of the vehicles, lit the wicks of his little distractions and tossed one into each of the cars.

"My, what a little arsonist you are, Jon. I'll have to introduce you to Buffy, she burned down her high school gym." Xander said.

"Sounds like my kinda gal." Jon replied.

They kept running for the trees, and when they reached them, took cover to catch their breath. Xander looked back towards the building and laughed. "Hey Jon, I think Bob isn't too happy with us, he's hopping around the range rover in his undies, swearing a blue streak and promising retribution."

Jon laughed along with him. "Pretty good eyes you've got there, Xanny-boy."

"I eat lots of carrots."

"Yeah sure, youbetchya."

Xander grinned at him and said, "Break's over, let's keep moving, see if we can find a road or a good hiding spot til morning. Stay close to me so you don't get lost, Kemosabe."

"Gonna stick to you like glue, Tonto."

As they screeched into the parking lot in front of a building identified as the Cascade Biological Research Institute, Blair finished calling in for back-up. The rental car behind them ground to a halt, inches away from hitting the truck. They could hear alarm sirens and could see many guards running about.

Jim, and Blair (and Buffy) saw the spirit guides heading right for the building, and started to follow after. Jim, seeing the little blond, her friends, and Jack and Daniel all planning to follow as well barked at them, "Stay here, this is a police matter!"

Jack told him where he could stick that idea. "Forget it, my son is in there and I'm going in."

"Fine." Jim snarled, tossing him his spare gun. "I assume you can use that."

"Yep."

"Buffy grabbed a police baton she saw sticking out from under Jim's seat in the truck. "I'm going too, you can't stop me!"

"Not. Happening." Jim glared at her.

"Bet me." She glared right back.

An impatient bark could be heard up ahead, from the hyena. _You waste time!_

Just then, two explosions could be heard coming from the rear of the building.

"DAMMIT! FINE! The rest of you, stay here and wait for the back up." _God save me from blonds with attitude._

Daniel looked like he wanted to follow.

"Stay here, Danny."

"Jack-"

"Stay!"

Jim looked over at Jack, and they shared a commiserating glance, as they ran around to the back of the building. Blair and Buffy kept pace beside them.

There were two teams of two in the woods, looking for them, with more likely on the way. _They must have access to night-vision gear,_ thought Xander.

Xander was leading Jon in the darkness by virtue of having Jon grab his belt at his back. Currently, they were crouched down behind some bushes at the base of a tree, letting one pair of searchers pass them by. Then, in a singular stroke of bad luck, the cars exploded and startled a small rabbit crouching in the same bushes. It darted out of cover, startling the men, who fired into the bushes. White-hot agony bloomed in Xander's shoulder, but amazingly he ignored it as he heard a bullet impact behind him, heard Jon's cry of pain, and smelled his blood. A howl of rage escaped and he charged the two men, shooting the gun in his hand wildly and throwing himself on the one that did not fall in the hail of bullets. Xander pounded his fists into the man's face until there was no further movement.

"Xan-" came a weak call.

Xander came swiftly to Jon's side. He momentarily froze at the sight of the blood flowing from the wound in Jon's stomach. Then he tore off his t-shirt and folded it into a thick pad, and used it to apply pressure to the wound.

"Jon, it'll be alright, you'll be fine, ok? Don't leave me-" Xander babbled frantically. Jon fainted, his heartbeat growing fainter. Xander focused on that heartbeat as if only the force of his will could hold Jon to this plane.

Thump-thump.

Thump-thump.

Thump-thump.

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

**7. Chapter 7**

CHAPTER7

Hyena led Jaguar and Wolf through the building, straight to the labs. Without 'speaking' a word between them, all three briefly took corporeal form and laid waste to the lab, and the computers that housed the data gathered in the past two days. Having accomplished their task, they lapsed back to spirit form and resumed their run until they emerged out of the back of the building.

As Jim, Blair, Jack and Buffy rounded the corner, all but Jack saw the spirit guides, illuminated by the light of the still-burning vehicles. Jim also spotted 4 armed men and shouted "Freeze! Cascade police!" Blair and Jack helped him to cover the men. "Blair, Jack, take care of these guys so we don't have enemies at our backs!" he said, tossing his cuffs to Jack.

"Ok Jim, be careful!" Blair called.

Jim turned to Buffy. "I don't suppose you'd stay behind and help them?" he asked, hoping to keep the young girl out of his way and out of danger.

"Not a chance in hell, mister!" she declared with a fierce glare.

The spirit guides loped towards the woods, and Jim and Buffy followed. Jim extended his senses and using his sight and hearing was able to locate the boys, but also two armed men sneaking up on their position. He was about to tell Buffy that he'd found them, and to attend to the boys, when she rushed past him and attacked one of the men. She brought the police baton down hard on the arm holding the gun; he dropped it with a pained cry, but prepared to defend himself. She whirled the baton with blinding speed, every swing connecting with flesh.

Swearing, Jim ran after her, and as she engaged her man, he tackled the other one, who had reacted to Buffy's charge and was lifting his gun to shoot her in the back. Having taken the man by surprise, he was able to disarm him and bind his hands with one of those plastic ties police use, then got up to assist Buffy. He found this unnecessary however, as her man was out cold and his hands were bound behind him with his own belt.

"Where's his gun?"

"Oh, I um, tossed it over there somewhere." Buffy gestured to the right. She was glad it was dark and hoped no one would find the gun, as she had bent the barrel at a 90 degree angle, rendering it useless.

Since the men were incapacitated, they turned their attention to the boys. Xander was kneeling over Jon, holding some material to Jon's stomach.

"Xander?" There was no response, so Buffy put her hand on Xander's shoulder, trying to get his attention. Her hand came away slick with blood. "Oh God, he's been hurt!"

"So has Jon, Xander is keeping pressure on the wound, but he's out of it. Go back and tell Blair to come here, we need to get Xander out of his zone." Jim could hear sirens, the backup was arriving. "The backup is here, they will have an ambulance with them so go lead the paramedics back here when you've spoken to Blair." Realizing he was right, Buffy sped off to do as he said.

Jim inspected Jon's wound as much as he could, since he could not move Xander. He smelled the blood and saw that the shirt Xander was using was stained with it, but not thoroughly soaked. That was good. Jon's heartbeat was a little weak, but steady. Xander's shoulder wound was still bleeding, but before he could improvise a bandage, he heard Blair arrive behind him.

"Oh man, that's a lot of blood." He handed Jim some gauze pads from a first aid kit he'd found just inside the building. "Here, use these to stop Xander's bleeding, while I see what I can do to bring him out of his zone."

Blair circled to Xander's other side, and took hold of his arm with one hand, while rubbing small circles on his back with the other. Speaking softly, he said, "Xander, come on now, gotta come back. Your friends are waiting for you, Buffy, and Mr. Giles, and Willow. Listen to my voice..."

The paramedics arrived, and Jim moved so they could have access to the boys, but Xander was not responding, and he was locked in place over Jon. "Chief, we gotta move him."

"I know Jim, he's not coming out of it!" Blair stated shortly. "Xander! Listen to me, you have to wake up, we need you to move and let us take care of Jon..."

Xander finally reacted, shaking his head and moaning softly. Blair continued "That's it, wake up now Xander. Jon needs medical attention, and so do you. Let go and let us help the both of you." Xander shuddered and came fully out of his zone, and let Jim and Blair pull him back so the medics could start working on Jon. They bandaged the wound, then transferred him to a stretcher and picked it up and headed back out of the woods. Xander tried to follow, but Jim restrained him while Blair, having appropriated a few supplies from the paramedics, bandaged Xander's shoulder until the medics could attend to it. Once Blair was done, Xander tried to follow the stretcher, but somewhat weak from blood loss, Jim picked him up and carried him to the waiting ambulance. Blair went in the ambulance with the boys to the hospital, while the rest followed in the cars and Captain Banks coordinated the clean-up operations at the research centre.

* * *

Arriving at the hospital, the medics unloaded Jon and Xander followed them into the ER trauma room.

"Someone get him out of here and take care of his wound!" demanded Dr. Dave Stevens, the attending on-duty.

Nurse Agnes Dunlevy tried to take Xander aside to a separate trauma room, but despite his weakened state, he was doing a great imitation of an immovable object. "Young man, you have to come with me, the doctors need room to work and we need to look at your shoulder."

Xander resisted her pull, his eyes fixated on Jon's still form. "No, I won't leave!"

Considering Xander's behavior since they had found the boys, and his fixation on Jon, Blair thought that Xander might have imprinted on Jon. While not a full empathic Sentinel/Guide bond, it was the first step towards one.

"Let me try," he said to the nurse. Blair went to Xander, using his 'Guide' voice, a soft, even tone, to persuade him. "Xander, come to this other trauma room next door, we'll leave the connecting doors open so you can see Jon, alright?" Xander reluctantly allowed this, and remained staring through the connecting doors while the doctors worked on his shoulder.

Once Jon was stabilized, he was wheeled out to be taken up to surgery. Xander hopped off the table, intent on following. When the nurses tried to restrain him he began to struggle, reopening his stitches, and managed to connect a punch to one of the orderlies' jaw. Thinking quickly, Nurse Agnes sedated him before he could shake off the orderlies and hurt someone else. Then, despite Blair's best efforts at explaining, as per the doctor's orders she had Xander put into restraints and into a padded observation room for safe-keeping.

Jack paced in the waiting room, while waiting for news of Jon, while Daniel was on his cell phone, letting their team know Jon had been found.

Dr. Dave approached the group. "Mr. O'Neill?"

"Colonel. How is Jon?" Jack asked.

"Well Colonel, he lost some blood, but fortunately the bullet didn't damage any vital organs. He's in surgery now, barring any complications he should be fine." the doctor answered. "when he is out of surgery, I'll come get you." Jack sat down next to Daniel in relief.

Before the doctor could leave, Giles demanded his own answers. "What about the other boy – Xander?"

The doctor looked annoyed at the mention of the other boy. "He's fine, no thanks to himself. At first he refused to cooperate and got in our way. We fixed up his shoulder, but then he got violent and we had to sedate and restrain him. He's in our 'quiet room', the one we use for difficult ER patients."

"I want to see Xander!" Willow demanded.

"I'm sorry, he's still sleeping off the sedative. Once he's awake, if he isn't exhibiting any further violent tendencies, you can visit with him then."

Willow and Buffy both looked like they wanted to argue, but Giles pulled them into a hug and reassured them. "Don't worry girls, we'll be able to see him in a little while. Let's have a seat over here, shall we?" he said, directing them back to their chairs.

"Colonel O'Neill – please reconsider. Jon's barely out of surgery, and moving him will not be conducive to healing." the doctor explained.

"Look Doc, by the time the medevac helicopter gets here, Jon will have had some time to stabilize, and we aren't leaving him here a moment longer than necessary, he's still in danger from the group that kidnapped him in the first place. I'm taking him home to Colorado Springs, where I and my team can protect him."

Jim spoke, "Look Jack, we can protect him here, and we need to take his statement."

"If he wakes up before we leave, you can take his statement then. Otherwise, you'll just have to come to Colorado to get it."

Jim backed off, as he could see there would be no reasoning with the man, but Blair had to try.

"Colonel – Jack – there's another reason for him to stay. I think that he and Xander, the other boy, may have imprinted -"

Jack held up his hand, "AH! No more mumbo jumbo, mystical spirit nonsense! Enough is enough!" he said in an exasperated tone of voice.

"Jack, maybe we should listen.." Daniel said.

"No, and that's final!"

Daniel shot an apologetic look at Blair and Jim. "I'm sorry, he gets cranky when he's under stress. We appreciate all your help though, and I'm sure that Jon will be happy to cooperate when he wakes up."

A couple of hours later, they took their leave. Jack was relieved to be heading home, finally regaining a sense of control that had deserted him ever since mini-Jack had gone missing. He knew Jon was not really his son, was his clone and therefore as competent as himself, but emotionally, having lost Charlie so many years ago, he had formed such an attachment to his 'younger self', that the thought of losing him had panicked him as badly as when Charlie had shot himself.

Blair hadn't been able to convince Jack to stay, and Jon still hadn't woken up for more than a few seconds at a time, so he hadn't had the chance to speak with him. He'd have to hope that the imprinting was not too deep, so that Xander would not have any difficulties bonding with a Guide.

Xander woke up slowly, climbing out of a mental fog that seemed to envelop his brain. He blinked, then shut his eyes quickly as the bright light caused him pain. Trying to lift his hands to rub his temples, he discovered that he was restrained once more. Even though it pained him, he opened his eyes to mere slits, and looked at his surroundings. Seeing the white, padded walls, he chuckled to himself.

_Great. I'm in a rubber room. With the extra-long-sleeved dinner jacket, too. Aren't I special?_

He shut his eyes once more, and tried to ignore the increasingly erratic input from his sense of hearing, as the volume of ambient sounds cycled between the level of the barest whisper to the level of a jet engine.

"Hello?" he yelled , hoping to get someone's attention. He heard a small window in the door slide open then closed again. Shortly, he felt more than heard the door open fully, due to the change in air currents.

"Mr. Harris? Are we feeling a little better now?" asked a nurse in a sacharine-sweet tone.

"No, WE is not feeling better. WE has a horrible headache, and WE's shoulder isn't feeling that great either, especially given the straightjacket!" he said with a snarl.

"Hmmph! Keep up that attitude young man and that jacket will become a permanent part of your wardrobe!" the nurse huffed. She closed the door, then reappeared a few minutes later with two huge orderlies and the doctor.

"Well then Mr. Harris, I hear you've been giving Nurse Agnes some trouble. I'm Doctor Dave and I hope you will cooperate with me, I need to look at your shoulder. And if you can behave, we'll let you have visitors, alright?" The doctor waited for his reply, and when Xander gave a quick nod, he motioned the orderlies to bring him to the nearby examination room.

Xander let the orderlies grab him by the elbows and walk him to the exam room, keeping his eyes closed against the brightness of the lights. It was easier to let them move him about as he felt dizzy with his hearing fading in and out. His sense of smell wasn't any steadier; as his nose was assaulted by smells of antiseptic, sickness, blood, and more, he came nauseous, and missed puking on the doc's shoes only through the fast action of Nurse Agnes, who had recognized the signs and produced a bedpan with amazing speed.

Soon he was deposited on the gurney and out of the jacket, the two orderlies hovering nearby. The doctor removed the bandages on his shoulder and examined the wound. 'Well, you managed not to rip out your stitches again. That's good. How's the pain?"

"I could use something to take the edge off, Doc," Xander admitted.

"Ok, well you lay back, Nurse Agnes will give you a shot and then the orderlies will take you upstairs to your room. After you are settled, your friends can come visit. The police also need to speak with you about the kidnapping."

Xander lay back as he was told and fell into a light doze after the shot was administered. When he woke once more he was in a private room, and his senses had calmed down for the moment. He got up out of bed, holding the hospital gown closed behind him - _damn these things are drafty!_ - and tried the door, but found that it was locked from the outside. _Oh well, guess it's an improvement over the rubber room._

He sat back onto the bed to wait, but was unable to stay still for long. Something was missing...something was WRONG...he couldn't remember what at the moment, but his anxiety level was climbing. He hoped someone came soon, before he really did go crazy. 


	8. Chapter 8

**8. Chapter 8**

CHAPTER 8

Xander stopped his pacing abruptly as the mental fog lifted and memory came flooding back. Gun shots, blood, pain! _JON! Oh god, is he dead? No one has said anything, he can't be dead, he can't!_ Some part of Xander wondered at the freakage over this boy he barely knew, but the rest of him was too busy freaking. The brief respite he'd had from his wonky senses ended, and he crashed to his knees, clutching his head in pain as the sensory overload assaulted him once more. _Oh God, not again!_

* * *

As the doctor unlocked the door to Xander's room, he turned to the Sunnydale group and the following Detectives, and cautioned them that they should not stay too long. "He's calmer now than he was and I don't want him to get agitated again. That goes double for you, Detectives"

"We understand, Doctor. We just need to see our friend and make sure he's alright. This has been a very stressful time for all of us," Giles said.

Blair assured the doctor, on his and Jim's behalf, "We'll keep it short for now, but we do need an initial statement."

The doctor turned back to the room and swore as he saw Xander rocking back and forth on his knees, clutching his head and muttering to himself. He was about to call for the orderlies to restrain him again, when Blair pushed past him into the room and knelt down at Xander's side.

"Detective! What are you doing? Don't interfere with my patient!"

Jim held the doctor aside, and tried to spin a plausible explanation they'd used with hospitals in the past when he had been hospitalized in the past. "Let him help, doc. The boy has a condition that causes him certain difficulties and pain related to his senses and he came to Cascade originally because he'd heard of Blair's meditation techniques that help with this condition."

"There's nothing in his charts, what condition, I'm not aware of any such thing…"

"Ah yes, well doctor, that's part of his medical records from Sunnydale, we hadn't gotten around to giving his medical history to your people yet…" Giles explained.

Meanwhile, while Willow and Buffy anxiously watched, Blair was bringing Xander down from the sensory spikes. "Ok Xander, I know it hurts. Listen to me and do what I say, ok? I want you to imagine 5 dials, like the volume dial on a radio or an old TV, with settings from 0 to 10, ok? Then label each one with one of your five senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch…..Really picture them, the size, colour, texture, and fix them firmly in your mind. Can you see them? Good, now look at the dial for Sight. Can you tell me how high it's set right now?"

"9" Xander replied with a moan.

"Ok, that's too high. Turn the dial down, feel it turning and as it clicks past each number, feel your sight returning to normal, the irises of your eyes shrinking to normal size until there's no more pain. Where's the dial now?"

"4" Xander replied.

"Ok, let's continue." Blair guided him through the process for his senses of hearing, smell and touch, but left taste alone since it was not spiking, until Xander sighed in relief. Blair helped him to stand up and tried to help him to the bed, but now that the pain had receded, he was having none of it.

"Where's Jon?" he demanded, advancing on the doctor.

The doctor stepped back, nonplussed. "Who?"

"Jon!" Xander growled. "The other boy, the one shot in the stomach? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM?" he shouted, his eyes flashing momentarily green.

Alarmed, Jim stepped in front of the doctor to block the boy, and tried to get in between him and Blair. "Blair, get behind me!"

"Jim, don't overreact, he's just-"

"I don't care, he's dangerous!"

Buffy pushed her way in between Jim and Xander. She recognized that green flash of the eyes, and was intent on not only protecting them from Xander, but Xander from himself and from this Jim guy. "Giles, do you have that de-possession spell handy?" Jim and Blair looked at her as if she was demented. She snorted. "What, you can accept ghostly animal spirit guides but not magical possessions?"

Xander growled, "I'm not possessed!"

"Then why are you all GRR?" Buffy asked, baring her teeth and curling one hand in a claw-like manner. "You're also kinda strong again, like the last time," she said, as she struggled to hold him.

".!"

_He is telling the truth._ The Hyena said, appearing in the middle of the room. Looking at Xander, it said _Pup, can I not leave you alone for even a moment?_

"Eep!" eeped Willow. This time, even she and Giles saw the Hyena. Only the doctor did not.

"Oh look, it's Xander's very own Deuce Sex Mackinaw, come to save the day once more," said Buffy in exasperation. This time everyone looked at her as if she was demented. The Hyena just cackled.

"His what?" Giles asked, polishing his glasses.

"Deuce Sex Mackinaw: 'an improbable character or unconvincing event used to resolve a plot." See, I paid attention in English class! Though what a coat has to do with it, I never understood!"

Blair blinked. "Um, did you mean Deus Ex Machina?"

"That's what I said!"

"No, you didn't-"

The doctor, bewildered at the goings-on, looked around at them and commented "You are all crazy, aren't you; no wonder the boy is a dangerous lunatic…"

A loud whistle pierced the air. Everyone stopped trying to talk at once and all looked at Willow, who had had enough.

"What she said or didn't say is SO not the issue here, people! Calm down and let's take things one at a time, shall we?"

"Yes, quite. First order of business…come here doctor." Giles spoke to the doctor, pulling him to sit on a chair in the corner.

Confused, the doctor complied. Giles took a handful of powder from an inner pocket of his coat, blew it into the doctor's face, and softly whispered "Oblivio."

Blair observed this in fascination. Jim felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. "What the hell did you do to him?" he demanded.

"Don't worry, gentleman," Giles tried to reassure them. "He hasn't been harmed. He will simply not recall the events in this room. His mind will construct some plausible and harmless memory…It's a rather useful yet simple spell actually, Watchers have to use it from time to time, when 'normal' people cannot handle the supernatural."

"That's fascinating, I'd love to learn more, what are Watchers, can I learn to use these spells-"

_There he goes into geek mode again._ "Chief! Not the time or place for this. You, Mr. Giles, keep your powders to yourself, no messing with our minds!"

"Oh no, Detective Ellison, I wouldn't dream of it. We are here for your help, after all, and you can hardly help if you don't know something about what we're all dealing with." Nevertheless, he kept his hands out of his pockets, so he wouldn't alarm the man any further.

Xander continued to struggle with Buffy, and demanded impatiently to be let go. Willow, still in assertive mode, turned to him and shook a finger in his face. "That's enough from you, mister! You sit down on the bed right now! This is my resolve face, I mean it!"

"But Wills, I have to find J-" he whined, but stopped struggling.

"Resolve face!" she said, pointing to her face.

_You'd better do as she says pup. She looks determined._ Hyena said, cackling still as he walked up behind her. Xander gave up in defeat and sat on the bed, Buffy hovering beside him in case he bolted.

Willow eeped again. "And-and-you…Mr. Hyena sir" she babbled somewhat nervously "-"

_As I told the Pup before, the Primal that possessed him is no longer within him, but she left her gifts behind. The increased awareness, certain instincts, better than human strength, speed, stamina and agility. Not quite on the order of a Slayer, but not far below. He has full control of himself._

Blair asked, "So he isn't a Sentinel then? The senses come from this possession?"

_I did not say that. It seems the boy has the Sentinel genetic marker, but it would have remained latent. The Primal caused it to become active, and coupled with the gifts She left behind, his senses may match your own Sentinel's._

"I see. Thank you, honoured spirit, for enlightening us."

_I like you, boy. If the Jaguar did not guard his Wolf so fiercely, I'd steal you for my pup._

Jim growled at this. "MY guide!"

Blair just blinked, then stroked Jim's arm reassuringly. "Hey Jim, it's cool, I think that was a compliment. You know I'd never leave you." Addressing the Hyena, he added, "You know better than to upset a bonded Sentinel with the thought of losing his Guide. Especially while in the presence of an unbonded Sentinel."

_It was not intended as a threat, my apologies. I grow weary, and must return to the Temple to rest. I will say one thing more. The pup must be reunited with his Guide, soon. Or his mind will succumb and be lost in the void forever._

Xander looked scared at this. "Ok, what's he talking about? I thought we were coming here for a cure, what's all this talk about guides?"

_I'll leave you to explain to the pup. You know where to go to find the Guide. Be warned, that one is stubborn and will need convincing that he has the gift. Be well pup, and try to stay out of trouble._ The Hyena cackled once more as it faded from view.

"I'm waiting for answers, somebody, please? I really don't wanna end up in lala land again, especially not permanently!"

Buffy and Willow both hugged him and tried to comfort him. "Oh Xander!" "We won't let it happen, Xan!"

* * *

As Blair explained to Xander what it meant to be a Sentinel, and how he would need a Guide to function, he thought furiously about the animal spirit's words. He asked Xander about his experiences during the kidnapping, focusing on his reactions to Jon, while Jim took notes for the police file. _I guess that confirms it. The other boy, Jon, is Xander's Guide. They are going to need to bond._

Xander tried to organize the information he'd just been imparted. "Ok….so if I understand this right, I can't be cured, I'm gonna be like this forever, 'cause even if a depossession spell worked on the Primal's so-called gifts, I am genetically a Sentinel, and magic can't undo something that is natural." Willow nodded in agreement at that.

"Ok, so you are a Guide, but although you can help me temporarily, this Sentinel-Guide thing is a one-on-one kind of deal, so I need my own Guide, especially 'cause Mr. Growly-face over there looks like he'd kill me if I so much as look at you cross-eyed…"

"Correct. Only don't worry about Jim, he's just being his cranky alpha-male self, he wouldn't hurt you," Blair stated.

Xander let that slide, but glancing at the serious expression on Jim Ellison's face, he knew better. "Ok then, so, lets go to Guides 'R US and find me one….no? Ok, look "Guides" up in the Yellow pages, maybe?" Xander asked hopefully.

"Er, no, doesn't quite work that way, Xander. Just as you have the Sentinel gene, a Guide will have the complementary gene that gives them the empathic abilities to sense their Sentinel's needs and to guide the Sentinel's abilities. It's just as rare as the Sentinel gene."

"I'm sooo screwed," Xander moaned despondently.

"Actually, I think I know where we can find your Guide." Xander's head snapped up at that, and everyone looked at Blair expectantly.

"Well, who is it man?" Giles demanded.

"I think, judging by what Xander has said of his experiences, and what I've observed myself, plus what the hyena had to say-"

"Just spill, already!" Buffy demanded impatiently.

"His Guide is the other boy, Jon O'Neill."

"Looks like we are taking a trip to Colorado." Buffy declared decisively.

A/N: Stay tuned for the sequel: Jon the Guide !


End file.
